LAKE STATION | A $30,000 recycling grant will help defray costs when the city unrolls its own garbage pickup service this fall, Mayor Keith Soderquist said.

He said the city recently learned it was the recipient of a $30,000 grant through the Indiana Department of Environmental Management.

The grant will allow the city to purchase 5,000 recycling containers for residents as part of its new curbside trash collection program.

"We had applied for $50,000," he said.

The city in October plans to begin its new, city-operated garbage pickup.

"Initially we'll be leasing equipment so that we can get it started. The numbers still work out better," he said.

The garbage trucks, which have been ordered, are expected to be available to the city sometime next year, he said.

Soderquist in May released plans for the new plan in which most families will pay a flat fee of $12.50 per month with senior citizens paying $9.50 a month.

The city decided to go ahead with garbage pickup when costs to pay an outside hauler rose from $600,000 last year to around $900,000 this year.

That pushed the cost, derived from property taxes, from $10.65 per month to $15.25, he said.